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This is the list of projects submitted as "wishlist" for state monies-El Mercado is a not a priority and should never have made the capital budget bill. The secrets deals on West 25th need to be exposed for who the real players are along this "Scenic By-way."

I am just going to be honest and say that I am terribly depressed for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County by several published articles from this past week.

First, taxpayers learned that we helped subsidize trips to Columbus by the Cuyahoga County Executive's Chief of Staff - so she could complete her degree and start up a company, the Unify Project - that is intended to use blockchain management of data for "social good."

Another exercise in delusion and smoke-and-mirrors, the Metrohealth expansion fails to generate private investment and fails to capitalize on the economic potential for a campus that connects two large facilities Metrohealth Main Campus and the Metrohealth Deaconess and Spinal Center- with greenway connections to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Stillwater Place, Ariel Event Center and a Lower Big Creek connector to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Cleveland has several amazing events planned this summer. The Cuyahoga River is the cleanest it has been for decades. We have an amazing Cleveland Metroparks and cultural attractions that rival offerings in New York, London, Paris and Rome. We have young talent and young energy, but we also have an entrenched "old guard," hobbling Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is defining how a city is responsive to residents and working with their talent to attract international attention and possibly Amazon's second headquarters. Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak describe this energy in the The New Localism.

I am very sad this week. I can't see how our region can shake off the yoke of oppression we have in our dysfunctional city and county government. I welcome anyone to cheer me up.

Response to Jon Pinney presentation at the Cleveland City Club:
Here is my comment deleted by Michelle Jarboe's editors: Where are you PD Clevelanddotcom writers holed up these days? The PD real estate deal for CLE police headquarters in the Forest City Publishing building sale is an example of the cannibalism that passes for development at the City of Cleveland. Also, given a pass the never ending nightmare known as the Cuyahoga County Land Bank and the legacy of the two crooks, Frangos and Rokakis, who destroyed the tax base in NEO with their collusion w/ "non-profit CDCs and rackets like Cleveland Housing Network. Both will be remembered in time like Albert Porter - machine boss who intentionally segregated the east side from west side w/the demolition of the Clark-Pershing bridge and push for the Shaker Freeway, which has become the incredible black hole that no one discusses any more - "The Opportunity Corridor."

My comment was deleted for two reasons: calling out the parasitism of "non-profits" here and for calling attention to the fact that the "Opportunity Corridor" has done nothing to improve Cleveland's economy. Consider the fact that no one at GCP bothered to include the land available in the their bid for Amazon's second headquarters. GCP's Joe Roman wrote a lame preemptive op-ed in PD before the presentation and Mark Naymik capitalized on the faux outrage over no women on Pinney's list, attempting to undermine Pinney's message. Folks were at the City Club because Pinney is a white male - one who helped deliver a president to the White House. I am a woman writing under my real name saying that we have to change by implementing open government that stops riding the federal and state money train. Cleveland was a powerhouse city - and, we still have all of the elements that make our region important to running a county, state and federal government that can take care of its people.

I had the day off today - met two CWRU graduates now living in Andover MA (near Boston and MIT)- they were staying at the Radisson downtown and were underwhelmed by what has been touted as the Cleveland Renaissance. I assured them that we still have the world class Cleveland Orchestra and world class Cleveland Art Museum among are many cultural assets. I encouraged them, next time, to stay at the Courtyard Marriott in University Circle. Cleveland is STILL affordable for retirees, like these CWRU alum and we have more to offer. Boston..does not have our culture. I lived there. It's nice, though expensive. Also, on my trip today (via GCRTA) ran into an OSU engineering student working as an intern at Voss and staying with relatives in Parma. He expects to graduate and work in Huntsville Alabama or near Cape Canaveral FL, where some of the aeronautical engineering firms are located and relocating. Does Cleveland have a plan to retain Voss?? Who knows? Cleveland council people like Kevin Kelley and Tony Brancatelli are too busy courting a tax evading non-profit alliance between Cleveland Housing Network and Eden to care about a REAL manufacturing business in Northeast OH.

How much was former the former CLE City Planner Robert Brown paid to broker this deal? Did Thieving Communities Director Jim Rokakis and Canalway Tim Donovan have a hand in this, too. And Metrohealth board member Mitch Schneider and Tony Minor (married to Frank Jackson's Chief of Public Affairs ...Natoya J. Walker-Minor )??? So many questions for the Metrohealth Transformation team on a design that sucks and will only worsen conditions in the Clark-Metro and Brooklyn Centre neighborhoods.

A grass field just purchased for $1.3 million may be key to MetroHealth's efforts to shape redevelopment of its West 25th street neighborhood.

My comments:

The site does not "abut" the Villa Hispana location which has steadily moved south from initial area near Seymour Ave (look at the tax maps). What galls me about Detroit Shoreway CDO's evil in Ward 14- first under Brian Cummins and now, under Jasmin Santana - is the underhanded real estate games we have been subjected to for years. Initially - when we had Old Brooklyn CDC - the "Transformation Plan" was to connect the two Metrohealth campuses (Main and Deaconess) along a mile lined with "dark" fiber, broadband connectivity. Now, it is about benefiting the primarily non-Hispanic property owners at Clark and W. 25th. This has been a nightmare. We have the year-round, family destination Metropark Zoo and DSCDO in collusion with the land bank and CHN-Eden are putting in permanent supportive housing on a site that SHOULD have a hotel to benefit the tourism in our region that includes connecting with the CVNP and Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. It is absolutely sickening to watch this happen.

What started out as a promise to help the community has devolved into a real estate game benefiting no one. This is a nightmare. The proposed "iconic" Metrohealth building has none of the services initially offered to the community - wellness center, music/art therapy, senior programming and a library. Instead, we are offered a rendering of a suburban glass box and the "Wong" property is still a mystery. Though, since I know the family - they have made out by now leaving the neighborhood for Rocky River (they still have their restaurant). Villa Hispana is a lost cause and it has never been driven by the Latin community. Look at the primary owners of property along W. 25th St. with names like Faraj - they are NOT Hispanic.

Stan Bullard recently reported that the CDC for Metrohealth purchased the "Wong" property across from the Metrohealth Family Services pavilion. When Detroit Shoreway CDO became the agent for Ward 14 (after Tremont West and Old Brooklyn CDCs), the original plan for broadband connectivity linking the two Metrohealth campuses - Main to Deaconess, was intentionally ditched for "Villa Hispana". Also, never talked about now -how the original campus design would invite neighborhood interaction with promised services like a daycare, library, wellness center, senior programming and arts therapy.

Now, we are promised instead, an "iconic" glass house in a "park-like" setting. This is a prelude to an announcement that Metrohealth plans a hotel to service this "park" hospital with a trailhead to the Lakelink trail and Steelyard Commons.

Crain's Cleveland, the City of Cleveland Economic Development Department, the Cleveland Metroparks board and the Greater Cleveland Partnership must stop this insanity. The demand for a hotel along W. 25th St, must be addressed with construction of a Courtyard Marriott at the now vacant 3873-3881 parcels on the southeast bluff of Big Creek across from the year-round Metroparks Zoo. This is where a trailhead can connect directly to the towpath at Old Harvard and the northbound Canalway and Lake Link trail and bring the economic development that is being seen at the Northside in Akron.

Dr. Boutros and the Metrohealth board must support development that will connect the two Metrohealth campuses and bring real vitality to our region by encouraging hotel development that ties into the year-round event facilities at the Metroparks Zoo.

West 25th Street Revitalization; MetroHealth System

A look at the effort to re-invigorate the W. 25th Street corridor and the neighborhoods around it.

Can’t believe I didn’t take a picture!Feeling very inspired after meeting Dr. Mark Joseph, expert in mixed-income development, using it as a strategy for addressing urban poverty. Looking forward to working with @cwru Mandel School, we must get development right in Ward14!

Dr. Boutros and the Metrohealth board must support development that will connect the two #OLDBROOKLYN Metrohealth campuses and bring real vitality to our region by encouraging hotel development that ties into the year-round event facilities at the Metroparks Zoo. @CLE_EconDev